Page 46 of Crossed Wires: The Complete Series

Annie looked at the two-seater truck before hopping into the bed, enjoying her father’s look of surprise and Hunter’s grin. She spent the trip back to the house lost in her own thoughts. She snuck a glance at Hunter. Her dad was right. She knew what she wanted.

Now all she had to do was hope Hunter he wanted the same.

* * *

After a few stilted words with Annie’s father in the ute, Hunter dreaded what breakfast would be like. He should have known better than to waste the energy worrying about it.

Joe and Hazel chatted and laughed like long-lost friends. Hazel had managed to discover it wasn’t Joe’s first trip to Australia, which led to a lengthy discussion about the Sydney Opera House. Annie remained quiet throughout much of breakfast, only remarking with surprise and unconcealed disgust when her father picked up his Vegemite and toast, eating two slices with the genuine pleasure of a man who’d gone too long without a favorite treat. Joe didn’t seem to share Annie’s aversion to Vegemite.

After breakfast, Joe rose and offered to help Hazel with the dishes. Again, Hunter read the shock in Annie’s features. He decided it was time for them to make a break for it. He excused himself and Annie as their parents began to clean up.

In the foyer, he grasped her hand. “Walk outside with me?”

She nodded. “Okay.”

They walked in silence for a little while. Hunter didn’t have a destination in mind until he spotted the little bench his mother had put near her garden. It was fairly secluded, the perfect place for them to talk.

They sat together as Hunter turned to face her.

“Annie—”

“Look, Hunter?—”

They spoke simultaneously, both stopping abruptly.

“Sorry,” Annie said. “Go ahead.”

Hunter didn’t bother with politeness. She offered. He took. “I want you to stay here.”

“Stay here?”

“I know what you’re going to say. You have a job and an apartment in New York. We’ve only known each other two weeks. Australia is too fucking hot. Your whole family lives in the States. I’m a thirty-year-old man living with his mother. There are a million reasons why this is a bloody idiotic request.”

She laughed at his rambling speech. Better that, he decided, than running for the hills. “That’s quite a list.”

“Everything on it is true, but I’m still asking you to stay.”

She glanced out at the garden and he struggled with her silence. Finally, she looked at him again. “Let me hear the other list.”

He frowned. “What other list?”

“The reasons why Ishouldstay.”

He reached for her hand. “Because if you leave now, we’ll never know what this could be. Because I can’t stand the thought of you sleeping so fucking far away from me.” He paused before giving her the most important reason. “Because I love you.”

She leaned closer, resting her forehead against his. “I love you too.”

“Does that mean you’ll stay?”

She didn’t answer right away. He watched the independent woman rear her head.

“What would I do? I studied to be a journalist. There isn’t much demand for those skills on the station. I can’t stay here indefinitely as a guest. I won’t do that.”

Hunter chuckled. Her response was so typically Annie. Of course she didn’t want to be a kept woman. Her father had made that offer and she’d refused. She had far too much pride and energy to stand idly by while everyone else around her worked. “Do you need a job description? Jesus, Annie. There are a thousand chores to be done around here every day. How about we chisel out a few and make them yours? They may not be fun or glamorous and I’m worried you might get bored?—”

“I’d never get bored here.”

He sensed they were getting closer to an answer. Hunter stroked her cheek softly. “Never is a long time.”

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